


my my, how can i resist you?

by blamefincham



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: M/M, Magical Realism, Mildly Dubious Consent, Pre-Slash, Veela
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-19
Updated: 2018-03-19
Packaged: 2019-04-04 13:47:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14021592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blamefincham/pseuds/blamefincham
Summary: His whole life, Alex has been really good at getting people to do what he wants. He doesn't know how it works, it justdoes. If he runs his hand through his hair and sort of smirks at people, they like him better.





	my my, how can i resist you?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NotUlysses](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotUlysses/gifts).



> Thank yous to come after reveals. Hope you enjoy this, Lou--I thought the world needed this fic :) 
> 
> Some spoiler-y warnings at the end to explain the dubcon tag.

His whole life, Alex has been really good at getting people to do what he wants. He doesn't know how it works, it just _does_. If he runs his hand through his hair and sort of smirks at people, they like him better. 

Alex used to think it was just that he was really hot. And, to be fair, he is. But he’s seen it work on enough straight guys that he’s pretty sure it’s the magical kind of gift.

—

Alex knows he’s going high in the draft (because he’s good at hockey, not because of his...other talents). He goes into the combine intending to just let the chips fall where they may, not to use his power to influence anybody, but that resolve lasts only until partway through his interviews. 

When he’s talking to the delegation from Columbus, Alex just gets this sense of _rightness._ He doesn’t know why; the team has historically been pretty bad, and Ohio isn’t the most glamorous of locations. Alex doesn’t _think_ he has the power to see the future—at least he never has before—but something’s telling him that this is the team he’s meant to go to.

So when they ask him what he feels he can bring to a team, Alex smirks and pushes his hair back, and he can see the way their smiles widen even though his answer is mostly nonsense. One of the scouts starts writing a little faster, and another is giving the GM some significant looks.

When he gets out of the interview, Alex googles ‘Columbus condos for rent’ on his phone. Better to be prepared, after all.

—

Alex goes to camp and works hard, but he’s sent back to Sweden for the next year. It’s probably for the best; a lot of the guys in the NHL are huge and the game is faster, and he needs to develop a little more. But the following year, 2014, Alex is determined to make the team out of camp. 

Alex is so determined, in fact, that...well, he’s not proud of it. But during a drill, he’s camped in front of Bob, playing the net-front guy. And obviously Alex can’t take his helmet off to play with his hair, which makes it work better, but he can glance over his shoulder and smirk. Poor Bob happens to look up at just the wrong moment, and he’s caught in Alex’s spell long enough for Alex to deflect in a pass from Nick. 

It’s just training camp. But Alex sees Bob pouring water on his face after, trying to shake off the goal, and he feels a little guilty. 

—

Alex won’t manipulate his opponents with his power—that’s cheating. But teammates...that’s a grey area. It’s probably still cheating, but if he used it to build chemistry, then it’s for the good of the team, and nobody’s getting _hurt_ by it. 

Also, by the time Alex gets to March and has only scored two goals, he’s starting to get a little desperate.

 

Richards is running through his line blender options, and what he settles on one day after practice is Alex with Dano and Hartsy. It seems to work fairly well, so Alex steels himself and corners them after practice. “Hey, guys, we should go out and grab a drink,” he says, beaming at them. “Liney bonding, you know.”

The Jackets start winning. They’re branded Hartnell and Sons, which makes Alex really hope his power doesn’t have anything to do with how hot he is, because _gross_.

—

The thing is, that may have been unethical, but...it also worked. Alex tries it again in the fall, when the team is mired in an awful losing streak, but he can’t seem to charm his way out of that one, no matter how hard he tries. 

It’s depressing as hell, is what it is, but the one good thing Alex seems to get out of the season is a friend. He bonds fast and hard with Bill, who they picked up in a trade the previous season. Bill’s Swedish, which is nice, and the perfect combination of laid-back and hilarious, which is even better. 

He also doesn’t have a car, so Alex ends up being his personal Uber driver. “You could at least tip me sometimes,” Alex says as he drives Bill to a meeting with the trainers about a sore muscle. 

“Okay, here’s a tip: clean your car, it smells like McDonald’s,” Bill says, grinning. Then he gets out quickly, before Alex can even hit him.

So, naturally, Alex has to roll down the window and shout after him, “You’re a jerk and we’re not friends.” Bill laughs, doesn’t even turn around. It occurs to Alex that this is the most natural friendship he’s had since he figured out how to charm people—it feels almost like an accident.

Bill’s a great distraction from what’s happening on the ice, anyway. Alex is mostly trying to fly under the radar and make it to the end of the season without anything awful happening. 

Then in February, they trade Joey, and suddenly everybody’s looking at him. 

Well. Saader was traded here to play with the first line center. So Alex leaves his baseball cap in his stall (because it’s hard to charmingly adjust one’s hair with a hat on) and goes to find Saader. 

—

Alex made a promise to himself a long time ago that he wouldn’t use his power on anyone he wanted to sleep with. He hasn’t really needed to—with the way he looks he’s never had much trouble in that department—but promising himself helps him sleep at night, so. 

The thing is, the way he charms people is a thing you can do by accident. He’s nodding along with a story Bill’s telling, and yeah, okay, maybe he’s smirking thinking about how cute Bill looks right now, all lit up with sunlight and grinning with mischief—but when he pushes his hair back, it’s just a reflex because he needs a haircut.

The second he realizes what he’s done, though, the bottom of his stomach drops out. Alex has wanted to sleep with Bill for months now, and he’s never used his power on him, not even once, so he felt good about slowly trying to make moves...and now he’s ruined everything. 

Bill doesn’t seem to be affected immediately. He finishes his story, and then he quirks his head at Alex. “Anybody ever told you you look really stupid when you smirk like that?” he says.

Alex has never been so relieved to hear an insult in his life. “No,” he says happily.

**Author's Note:**

> Alex uses magic to convince people to like him. It's clear he won't use them for sex, but he does use them for other manipulative ends (career success, friendship, etc). 
> 
> Probably this deserves a sequel where Bill finds out about Alex's power and laughs himself sick.


End file.
